Does this sound like ADHD?

[TheElegantFairy]

I know there are many things that could be symptoms of something without necessarily meaning you have a diagnosis, but I've always been curious about this.

I struggle to finish books, I've got two books I started in the last few months, I'm about a quarter into both of them and keep meaning to read more but just keep forgetting/doing other things.

I struggle to sit and watch a film for a few hours, even if I enjoy it, those 3-hour films at the cinema are tough. I have to go to the toilet for something to do.

At home I can't watch TV without also scrolling on my phone. It annoyed previous partners even though I wasn't talking over it or affecting them watching it.

Struggle to sit in an office all day (which is why I've left office roles now] I'd get very restless, end up needing the toilet every hour and leave as soon as I could.

If someone gives me verbal instructions or directions they go completely over my head, I need it written down.

Sometimes find myself browsing on Indeed just to see 'what's out there' job-wise even if my job is fine.
Just always felt a bit 'different' and that something was wrong with me. I'm mid 30s, has anyone else had this or had a diagnosis from this?

Always have a song going on in my head (think it's called an earworm)?

Some of that sounds like ADHD traits, but there’s a threshold for actual diagnosis. So everybody struggles to focus sometimes, it’s only going to meet the threshold if it’s seriously impacting your life.

Do you think that it is?

Thanks, I don't think it's impacting my life as such, more quirks I (and others) have picked up on. I've never been fired or anything for it, it's just something I feel a bit embarrassed about sometimes.

My friend has ADHD and has all these challenges. Does your workplace have any Hr or occupational health support, or your GP can help x

I would do an online screener and see how you score

https://adhduk.co.uk/diagnosis-pathways/

Not sure but I am the same.

lately I have particularly struggled in work meetings. I get hugely tetchy and impatient, particularly towards the end. Once we’ve finished all the main points and getting ready to close the meeting, I close my laptop and start getting up from my seat. Inevitably people still chat / raise other points / just general lingering and I can feel myself getting stressed and impatient to an extent that the situation does not warrant. I just want out of there.

Although maybe that example is just one of extreme impatience?

I also experience it when getting out a car. I do a lot of car shares for a hobby and I am often in the back of cars with childlocks on them and have to wait for the driver to get out and open the door from the outside. I’m in the car with nice people who I get on with, but as soon as the car starts to stop I start feeling incredibly stressed, panicky and impatient waiting for the driver to open the door and let me out. I am not caustrophic so not sure what causes the extreme anxiety and impatience.

As I say, both those examples may just be impatience rather than ADHD but I certainly experience the other things you have mentioned as wel.

I am diagnosed and have all these and more, although I sometimes wonder if it’s just my personality. I’m waiting for medication atm.

Before smart phones existed I could do most of those things (though it did take me 6 years to complete a 4 year degree). Since smart phones I give my full focus to nothing and have read one book in thr last 5 years. Every teenager I know is just like this.

@TheElegantFairy what you described is me and I’m diagnosed…. I am on medication and it helps massively!!

someone on Reddit described adhd in the most perfect way: 35 browser tabs in our brain that we just cannot close!!

No because adhd is much more than not following a film (which is possibly not your choice if watching with someone else).

And noone likes work!

Its more about what you were like as a child.
Did it affect education? Impulsivity? Friendship issues through interrupting or saying things without thought.

Agree with pp what you are describing is issues with too much tech and being bored with boring tasks.

They could be ADHD, but honestly they sound more like the short attention span we've pretty much ALL developed since we became glued to our smart phones.

I struggle to finish a book now. Never used to. It's only happened since I have owned a laptop and an ipad and a smart phone. I can find myself nodding off after two or three pages of a book if I try and read at bedtime, yet I can read MN or doom scroll on facebook for 2 hours and not fall asleep.

I can no longer watch many things without looking at my phone at least once every 20 mins or so.

Yes I think it’s true to say that screen time has wrecked focus for a lot of people! Also hormonally many women find that their focus gets much worse if their Estrogen reduces - dr Helen wall talks a lot about this on instagram. My attention span got much much worse once I hit perimenopause although I think you’re a bit young for that.

I never considered it could be a result of smartphones, but it makes sense. If the phone was taken away, I'd probably be reading the books in full.

Sounds like most of the students I teach. They are addicted to their phones, don't have the habit or stamina required to read and have reduced attention spans. They think they can't read but actually, they don't read and it's really not the same thing. ADHD can present this way but it's usually a bit more complex.

very difficult to say if it is from the phone usage as symptoms described here are also true adhd symptoms; ofc in both cases situation seems similar , but very difficult to say one way or another

people around me are on their phones all the freaking time, don’t even bother talk to their kids but they can certainly even sit though theatre where for me it’s an absolute nightmare and won’t go through it

Sounds like restlessness, irritability - to me unhappiness, maybe mild depression. Exercise helps, either way.

I have an adhd diagnosis (and am medicated). I used to read voraciously, in fact would become hyper-fixated on/in a book. Since having children, I’ve been unable to.

I almost always forget where I’ve left things (air tags have revolutionised my life), leave cupboard doors open. I used to hate getting my hair done because it meant sittIng still for so long. My school reports always said “talks too much”, “could do well but loses focus”, “fails to hand in homework on time” and I’ve spent a life time under achieving!

Oh and verbal instructions are my nemesis! You might as well give them to me in Chinese 🤣

medication has not been a magical lifesaver but it’s enabled me to create a small space in my brain to erect some scaffolding to cope. I have a notebook (that I love) that goes with me everywhere and contains my life. It’s a bit like a Filofax but dateless (because there will be days I forget to use it!) I have matching pens that I also adore that get put in the same place everyday after work. Ditto my work pass goes in the same place every day. All this does rely on me leaving the office in the same way every day …. The best thing about meditation is that it’s stopped me hyper fixating on anxiety and completely spiralling into an anxious circle.

I asked a friend what I was like before medication and she said it was like being in a room with four of me. I often left a room feeling like I’d exhausted everyone in it (even if I’d only been in there 10 minutes)

I’m similar but I haven’t always been like this, I used to read voraciously when I was younger. I think Im addicted to my phone and years of doomscrolling has done a number on my concentration.

Exercise really does help I find because it gets me off the twatting phone. Am about to get on my bike primarily for that reason - but the reason am not on it already is because I keep picking up my phone….

I do all of those things you mentioned though I have never felt different.
I wasn’t always like this though. For me smartphones and instant gratification has massively affected my ability to concentrate.

I was just about to say the same.

My issue is I have zero attention span thanks to the internet and my phone. I used to be able to sit and devour books and sit and watch TV for hours as well. Now I have a phone addiction and everything else is a struggle.

I used to have a pattern when I picked up a book - I’d be skimming along the surface initially then after a few minutes I’d get kind of sucked in and absorbed in the plot. I never get that far now, am always at the “bobbing along on the surface” stage with a little voice saying “phone, phone, phone”. I think it’s shit overall never to be in that same fully absorbed stage. I get fully absorbed in my phone but that’s more of a sense of constant stimulation and feels like the opposite.

I have a diagnosis of ADHD and do have those symptoms, but it is so much more than that. Of those are the only symptoms you have and it isn’t really impacting your life, and didn’t impact you as a child, then it probably isn’t ADHD.

There is some serious masking during childhood especially for girls ( assuming you’re female @TheElegantFairy )

I masked my own for years so that I am perfect and don’t cause a fuss! best grades , best everything all the way to master degrees and highly paid jobs

so yes it is complex and absolutely very difficult to pinpoint this to just “smart phones” usage

@TheElegantFairy you can easily go for referral , my own was super quick I was diagnosed and started medication within weeks … worth pursuing

I have ADHD as does DD14 and it's more than just quirks. It's about the severity, persistence and impact they have on a person's ability to function day after day. It's like, for instance, the difference between severe asthma and being a little out of breath. Looking back at all the ways ADHD has ruined one thing or another, work, school, relationship, finances makes me bawl my eyes out! DD has significant difficulties at school and I'm worried she's not going to pass any GCSEs. Not to say she's not smart, she just doesn't learn in the same way as others. Obviously not everyone with ADHD is the same, but whatever struggles they do have, will impact them negatively in a massive way. And dont even get me started on people who say ADHD is a superpower! 🤬